As my brother said so eliquently yesterday, "All this over a KICKER."
The sad part about all this is that they are giving him ALL OF THE CREDIT for winning the super bowl. The rest of the team didn't matter. That's sad. Somebody had to get him into field goal range, right? And after he made the kick, somebody had to keep the other team from scoring, right?
Wow, maybe the Pats should give back the Lombardi trophies and Brady and Branch should give back their MVPs. They had absolutely nothing to do with winning the Super Bowls.

As my brother said so eliquently yesterday, "All this over a KICKER."
The sad part about all this is that they are giving him ALL OF THE CREDIT for winning the super bowl. The rest of the team didn't matter. That's sad. Somebody had to get him into field goal range, right? And after he made the kick, somebody had to keep the other team from scoring, right?
Wow, maybe the Pats should give back the Lombardi trophies and Brady and Branch should give back their MVPs. They had absolutely nothing to do with winning the Super Bowls.

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Haha, can't you see the writing on the wall? Harrison already has all the motivational tools he needs for next season now! I see him saying "They are disrespecting us by saying a kicker won our Superbowls. Are we gonna put up with that!" Can anyone say bulletin board material?

As my brother said so eliquently yesterday, "All this over a KICKER."
The sad part about all this is that they are giving him ALL OF THE CREDIT for winning the super bowl. The rest of the team didn't matter. That's sad. Somebody had to get him into field goal range, right? And after he made the kick, somebody had to keep the other team from scoring, right?
Wow, maybe the Pats should give back the Lombardi trophies and Brady and Branch should give back their MVPs. They had absolutely nothing to do with winning the Super Bowls.

Click to expand...

I totally agree..AV was the one who got to kick the firld goals...and get THAT glory..but it was the offense who set him up and defese who prevented a score.

Haha, can't you see the writing on the wall? Harrison already has all the motivational tools he needs for next season now! I see him saying "They are disrespecting us by saying a kicker won our Superbowls. Are we gonna put up with that!" Can anyone say bulletin board material?

As my brother said so eliquently yesterday, "All this over a KICKER."
The sad part about all this is that they are giving him ALL OF THE CREDIT for winning the super bowl. The rest of the team didn't matter. That's sad. Somebody had to get him into field goal range, right? And after he made the kick, somebody had to keep the other team from scoring, right?
Wow, maybe the Pats should give back the Lombardi trophies and Brady and Branch should give back their MVPs. They had absolutely nothing to do with winning the Super Bowls.

Click to expand...

Did u even read the article? He gave the credit to BB, Brady AND AV. Look, I dont agree with everything he said, and this is all kind of being blown out. But, when our new kicker comes in and misses just one clutch kick...people are going to be saying "I told u so." And, they will most likely be right. The most dissapointing thing that no one ever talks about, is that AV had to be in that position in the first place. A game should never have to come down to the kicker. Hopefully our offense will get revamped after cleaning some house and be able to get a lg. enough lead that we won't need to worry about a kicker for the win. I do agree with the idea though that the pats did lose their aura. Not just with AV but also with the loss of the clutch play Wllie Mac brought to the table. No matter how good their replacements are, will they be able to come through in the clutch? I guess only 16 games will tell. hopefully they will come through for us.

I do like the comparison to Mariano Rivera. . .because remember, even he got beat. The infallable eventually become fallable.

Don't worry about the writers. The same things were said about player moves before. Youd've thought the world caved in when they released Milloy a couple of years ago. With the uncharacteristically poor offseason signings of Chad Brown, Monty Beisel, et al, and now these free agent losses, these writers are just waiting for the Pats to fall apart.

Peter King and the like will soon have their heads back up Brady and Belichick's asses, where they belong.

I can't argue with most of these posts but I still would have loved to see Adam stay with the Patriots. I think the Patriots messed up on this one but heck he's not gonna kick FG's forever. The next hero is out there somewhere, I just the brass finds him and signs him..... :rocker:

Did u even read the article? He gave the credit to BB, Brady AND AV. Look, I dont agree with everything he said, and this is all kind of being blown out. But, when our new kicker comes in and misses just one clutch kick...people are going to be saying "I told u so." And, they will most likely be right. The most dissapointing thing that no one ever talks about, is that AV had to be in that position in the first place. A game should never have to come down to the kicker. Hopefully our offense will get revamped after cleaning some house and be able to get a lg. enough lead that we won't need to worry about a kicker for the win. I do agree with the idea though that the pats did lose their aura. Not just with AV but also with the loss of the clutch play Wllie Mac brought to the table. No matter how good their replacements are, will they be able to come through in the clutch? I guess only 16 games will tell. hopefully they will come through for us.

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No I didn't read the article. I read this post after listening to Michael Smith rip the team on WEEI, and I just couldn't take anymore. But for the record, I have heard people give Adam all of the credit, especially yesterday.

I can't argue with most of these posts but I still would have loved to see Adam stay with the Patriots. I think the Patriots messed up on this one but heck he's not gonna kick FG's forever. The next hero is out there somewhere, I just the brass finds him and signs him..... :rocker:

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I can't see how the Pats "messed up" on the deal. When you look at the fact that the Colts gave Adam an 11Mill deal, and Vanderjerk gets almost half that (6Mill) with the Boys, doesn't that make you think that maybe, just maybe the Colts overpaid for their new kicker?

I can't see how the Pats "messed up" on the deal. When you look at the fact that the Colts gave Adam an 11Mill deal, and Vanderjerk gets almost half that (6Mill) with the Boys, doesn't that make you think that maybe, just maybe the Colts overpaid for their new kicker?

Patschick87, I have no doubt the Colts overpaid. I just would have liked to see Adam kicking PATs and FG's for a few more years. I suppose in the end it was too much "cabbage" for a kicker. I can't argue with the logic of letting him go it just bothers me. Like part of the Patriots Mojo is leaving with Willie and Adam.

Patschick87, I have no doubt the Colts overpaid. I just would have liked to see Adam kicking PATs and FG's for a few more years. I suppose in the end it was too much "cabbage" for a kicker. I can't argue with the logic of letting him go it just bothers me. Like part of the Patriots Mojo is leaving with Willie and Adam.

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Yea, I would have loved to see Adam here too, but it goes both ways and I think Adam was looking to make a move. Gotta have two to tango, ya know?
Besides, the killer to me was the apparent lack of gauranteed money. Now why would the Pats not give that? I'm wondering if Adam's back problems which have cropped up on multiple years may have been a factor for the Pats? As many have already said, we observers will never know the whole story.

Can you imagine our next kicker? The moment he's called upon to kick a game-winning field goal... the expectation, the burden that will be on his shoulders.

I think losing AV will have a long term impact on this team, he's not just a kicker, IMO. Sure, we can always bring in another kicker, but just think about what he will have to go through when he's on that field and all those things are going through his head, the responsibility, the weights. He's not only trying to kick the GW goal, he's also gotta beat the legacy that AV left behind. That thought alone will bury a lot of kickers out there.

I'd hate to be in his shoes

P.S. This is not a gloom and doom post, just thought it'd be interesting to think about the new guy.

There's no doubt that Adams shoes will be hard to fill. (Luckly it won't be a full time slot like Tedy's last year). But isn't this the case with every position that opens when a Pro Bowl type player leaves?

Well, I believe this case is a little bit more extreme than just that. We're going to have a new kicker who's trying to replace AV. The man is a legend, kicker of two SB game-winner, 19 GW kicks, the legendary Snow Bowl kick... Sure, those are all stats and they don't mean anything, but perception is reality, and the perception is that AV is perhaps one of the, if not greatest, clutch kickers ever in the NFL.

Can you imagine our next kicker? The moment he's called upon to kick a game-winning field goal... the expectation, the burden that will be on his shoulders.

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Good point. Somewhat of a corollary: Steve Young got booed by more than a few in San Francisco for years beore those wine soaked fans woke up to the fact that they had another HOFer calling signals. Some would call him Saint Steve for the way he took it. We need a thick skinned, short memory guy with a great foot to come in and follow Adam (Adam II).

Obviously this fool has never read "Management Secrets of the New England Patriots". This is the way they have operated all along. This is the way that brought them three Super Bowl victories. Don't overpay for big names. Don't fall in love with your own players. Make personnel decisions based on the cold hard facts, not on emotions or a player's popularity with the fans. Instead of using a big chunk of the salary cap on a few stars, give most of it to the "middle class". Have 53 good players rather than 5 great ones and 48 poor ones. Find players who have been underused or misused by their old teams (Vrabel, Patton, for examples). Find players who may not have thrived in some other system but will do well in the Patriots system. It's all in the book.

Really, it's amazing that after 5 years of the BB system some of these writers and a lot of the posters here still don't get it.